The Sunday Oregonian., October 05, 1913, SECTION SIX, Page 6, Image 66

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THE " SUNDAY OEEGOXIAN, POKTLAXD, OCTOBER 5, 1913.
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Military Policies
Dis-cuiyei
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BY A6HMUN BROWN.
GEXERAL. MANAGER of the Army.
To borrow a title from railroad
organization, that Is the one that
would best fit Major-General Leonard
Wood, whose actual title Is chief of
staff.
He Is general manager of the Army,
directing: its operations just as the gen
eral manager of a railroad directs those
of the property for which he is re
sponsible. Behind the railroad general
manager are the president of the com
pany and the board of directors'; be
hind the chief of staff are the Secretary
of War, the President and Congress.
Bit In General Wood's office In the
War Department and observe his work,
and the similarity Impresses you more
and more. The popular vision of the
office of chief of staff of the Army may
be of various stiff gentlemen In uni
form sitting about In melancholy dig
nity, snapping out orders to subordi
nates, while brass-bound orderlies
march In cadenced time In ana out the
doors, saluting some one at every othei
step.
He gets things done by modern, meth
ods. Hence the similarity his office
bears to the office of a railroad gen
eral manager. General Wood himself
Is of the type of highly developed mod
ern executive; the quiet - voiced,
trained, thoroughly educated man 'who
wins to high place by always "mak
ing good."
Howard Elliott, the new ' president
of the New Haven, like General Wood,
a product of Harvard, Is another of
the type. The two, by the way, have
many other qualities in common.
When Llndley M. Garrison had been
Secretary of War for a few weeks he
commented . publicly ori the Army as
being "a wonderfully fine machine."
His - impression- was caught from- ob
servations In the department. His
phrase was a distinct compliment to
the work of General Wood.
Intensely human mechanism Is handled
by General Wood as by a master. He
has the quality of making it move with
ease, of himself always apparently hav
ing leisure. Efficiency experts say that
a guide to an executive efficiency is
the condition of his desk. If he per
mits papers to accumulate, he Is de
ficient. General Wood's desk Is spick
and span and clear. Papers come there
by the bushel, but they go away again
quickly acted upon.
One reason Is that he knows how
to pick subordinates. No executive ever
made good who didn't have that fac
ulty. General Wood has been much In the
public eye ever since 1898, when he
leaped Into prominence as Colonel of
the. First United States Volunteer Cav
alry, otherwise the Rough Riders, his
Lieutenant - Colonel being Theodore
Roosevelt. It is well known that Roose
velt, himself an eminent judge of men,
secured the appointment of Colonel
This vast, complicated, involved, but Wood out of many possibilities as the
military man best qualified to com
mand the regiment, Roosevelt very
plainly saying that he (Roosevelt)
without training under Buch a compe
tent superior as he knew Wood to be,
was not then quaiined to taKe com'
mand. How Wood was promoted to
Brigadier-General and Roosevelt to
the regimental command, after they
reached Cuba, Is history.
The cultured man speaks In his dig
nlty and charm of manner. He talks
deliberately and with care, a trace of
the Harvard accent in his broad sound
ing of the "a."
"The country," said he the other day
In discussing the problems with which
be has to deal, has come in recen
years to a much better knowledge of
the Army, its needs and its Ideals than
previously existed. This is apparen
in the character of editorials and news
articles that are being printed now a
days about the Army and military pre
paredness. More accurate knowledge
of existing facts Is Indicated In them
"Much of this is traceable to the pub
lication in 1904 of General Upton's
work on "The Military Policy of the
United States' a manuscript written
years before, but not made public until
then and its wide circulation. This
volume dwelt upon our National mis
take of confusing military resources
with military strength, and showed
how great and needless had been our
losses in all our wars, both in lives and
money, owing to our failure to estab
lish a military policy and to prepare
in time of peace for the shock of war.
'The publication of this work has
had a tremendous educational value. It
and the many writings founded upon It
have brought sharply to the attention
of thinking men the defects in our old
system, or lack of system, and the need
for being prepared. The Nation is be
ing impressed with the fact that we
must make sound and rational prepara
tion for a condition which we know,
from the experience of the past, will
some day Inevitably confront us.
The recent trip of Secretary Garrl
son through the country, during which
he made a number of splendid speeches
explaining our need of National de
fense, also has been of great education
al value. He pointed out that Con
gress cannot be expected to act along
the lines desired unless there Is a pub
lie sentiment behind the representa
tives; In other words, that the re pre
sentatlves cannot represent the views
of their constltutents unless those con
stituents have some views of their own,
"I think all this is going to be help
ful. It Is distinctly encouraging to the
general staff and to the Army gener
ally in the efforts being made to es
tablish a military policy for the Nation
and a coherent plan of preparing for
whatever the future may have In store
for us.
Speaking roughly, the facts which
confront us are these: In a war with
any first-class power it would be necs-
sary for us to put Into the field at the
least about 600,000 men. To be an
asset rather than liability, they must
be men of some military training, they
must be equipped, they must be intel
ligently led.
The Regular Army In this country
will not consist of more than 60,000,
one-third of whom are Coast Artillery
and limited In their operations to their
fixed posts. The militia could furnish
not more than 80,000 fairly well in
structed treops. Even when, by recruit
ing, we raised our Regular Army units
to war strength, and also called in the
militia, we would have a shortage of
about 450,000 men and not less than
15,000 officers. Where are we to get
those men and officers?
"From the volunteers, Is the obvious
answer. But untrained and raw volun
teers are not of actual, only of poten
tial, military value.
These are the reasons that have led
us to advocate short enlistment in the
Army and militia, the building up of
reserves for both, and the extension of
military education in the country.
"We are distinctly opposed to the cre
ation of a professional soldier class In
the country. We do not want men to
enter the Army to remain for 30 years
the period necessary to secure retire
ment Both from a military and an eco
nomlc standpoint their retention Is
mistake. Let us take a concrete ex
ample. A man enters the Army, say,
at 24 years of age. After ten years he
begins to deteriorate in value as
fighting unit. At least It has been dem
onstrated that athletes begin to de
terlorate before 34.
"But at 34 we are paying the man
considerably more than we were paying
him when he was 24. He remains 20
years in the service after that, draw
ing Increases of pay periodically for
length of service up to 18 years, and
finally retires at 54 provided he has
gained the maximum non-commissioned
rank a possible retired pay of $67.50 a
month for the remainder of his life; in
any case a retired pay of S30 or more.
And he probably has 20 years of life
remaining. As a military asset he is
useless, being too old. But we go on
paying him month by month the pay of
from two to four young and active men
in their first enlistment.
"And still we are told that a system
of short enlistment and a paid reserve
would prove unduly expensive. I think
that It can be demonstrated that, on
the contrary, it would be a measure of
economy.
It does not take a number of years
to train a man in the principles of mili
tary service. In Europe, after a man
is considered fit for service, he is dis
charged.
The training, If eirectlve, though
short. Is a civil as well as a military
advantage. Military discipline does
make better citizens. It Is a fact not
to be disputed. Such discipline teaches
men to respect law and order and con
stituted authority, and also It teaches
them to respect themselves. The homi
clde rate In European countries, where
military training prevails. Is remark
ably less than ours. Our people cer
tainly are as good as theirs, but for
lack of discipline ours have less respect
and regard for the rules of organized
society.
"To train an educated man, one ac
customed to having mi body obey his
mind, requires a much shorter period
than to train an uneducated one. This
is recognized In European countries,
where all able, sound men serve, ano
the man from an institution of higher
learning Is required to serve only a
year, instead of the two or more years
required of the lesser educated.
Obviously It will take longer to teach
what we might call the mechanics of
soldiering to the man with a pick, who
has to pause for a second to think when
you speak to him, than to teach them
to a ballplayer, whose mind has been
trained to act quickly and to make the
body respond Instantly to mental Im
pulses. , ,
But two years, we think. Is ample
to teach the essentials. We advocate a
three-year enlistment, with a pro
vision that the man who is certified by
his company commander as competent
in a lesser time may take his discharge
forthwith and pass to the reserves. We
believe It will attract the most desir
able class of men to the Army, men
who want to prepare themselves to be
of service to the country In time of
war, but who cannot spare the time for
a long enlistment.
The reservist should be assured that
he is to be absolutely free in his move
ments, to come and go as be wills, only
keeping In touch with bis command by
reports, during his period on the re
serve list five years with the excep
tion that he is to return to duty with
his unit In time of war, and that he Is
to report once in two years for physi
cal examination and for not less than
five nor more than ten days' training
In the field.
At the expiration of his five-year
period on the reserve list he goes oft
the list In favor of younger men who
have come In by discharge from the
Army. He 1b still a military resource,
and will be one for several years, but
it Is ODtlonal with him whether or no
he will present himself for service In
time of the country s neea.
"Personally, I think the reservist
should be paid, possibly at the rate of
$30 a year. Payment to him, with short
enlistment and resulting short retired
pay roll, would be a distinct saving In
the long run to the Government.
"Each reservist should be listed in
the nearest proper military unit, that
unit changing as the man moves from
place to place in the country. There
should be kept in stock at the depot of
this unit full equipment for the reserv
1st, even to uniform of his size. He
should possess an identification card,
which, when the call for his services
comes, should serve as a Government
order for his transportation on any
transportation line to the headquarters
of the command to which he belongs,
"Thus the mobilization and equipment
of a trained body of men would be
matter of mere hours Instead of days,
weeks and months as it has been in the
past
Another reason for short enlistment
and the establishment of a reserve Is
found in the fact that it prevents
stagnation in the service. In time of
peace the chief. work of An officer is
to teach his men the military art. Sup
posing you were teaching plane geom
etry In a college which wouldn t grad
uate Its studentB, so that year afte
year you would have dally before you
in the classroom the same set of stu
dents, reciting over and over again the
lessons which they had learned long
ago, wouldn t that prove Irksome to
youT Wouldn t you be likely to fall
into a rut? And wouldn't they?
'Short enlistments will make for In
tensive training. There should be
crowded Into months the Instruction
which so frequently Is spread over
years. That is why we are trying to
eliminate all but military occupations
from the soldiers's duties; that Is why
we are trying to get away from the
grass-cutting and the lawn-tending
and work of that sort in our vast park
like military posts.
We are told by some that It takes a
long time to Instill the principles of
military discipline in the soldier's mind.
Now, there are two kinds of discipline,
One comes from establishing In a mind
not overly brilliant the custom of
obeying Instantly and without reason
ing certain orders. It Is a form disci
pline, or, more properly, a condition of
mind or habit that is thus Induced. The
Impulse to obey remains only until It
Is displaced by a stronger impulse.
On the other band there Is the form
of discipline that trains the mind to
crol the body. This form of disci
pline depends upon Intelligence strong
enough to appreciate the needs of
obedience and the need of co-operation.
and represents a type which we find in
the better class of enlisted men. This
type of man appreciates the need of
obedience and co-operation at once,
and discipline with him Is easy to lm
plant and maintain.
The short enlistment and the re
serve system should result in a few
years In the possession by the Nation
of a large number of young citizen
with military training upon whom the
Nation could rely In time of war to
fill the gaps In the ranks of regulars
and militia. But there remains the
problem of the volunteers. The graver
portion of that problem is that of of
ficers. Tou will recall that I said that
In time of war with a first-class pow-
r, and the presentation of the neces
sity of raising an army of 600,000 we
would be short at least 15,000 officers.
'One source of supply should be In
our colleges and schools were military
instruction, ranging from the practical
in some to purely theoretical In others,
given under officers of the Army,
Those colleges and schools today have
about 26,000 students. A suggestion
have In mind is that we take annu
ally 400 or 600 of the best of these as
they are graduated and, on the recom
mendation of the Army officer on duty
In each particular school, give them
provisional or temporary commissions
for a year as additional Second Lieu
tenants in the Army and put them on
duty with troops.
"By reason of the absence of officers
on detailed duty away from their com
mands duty which is necessary c- d
valuable we are always short some
500 or 600 line officers for duty with
the troops. These temporary commis
sions would in a larKe measure supply
the need that is always with us; will
give us a man as a reserve officer wao
has had anywhere from two to four
years of Instruction at the so-called
military schools instruction given un
der the direction of an officer of the
Army, and, in addition, one year's In
struction with an organization -of the
Regular Army.
"It Is not necessary to point out the
advantages which would accrue from
this system. We should get reserve of
ficers far better trained than those of
most armies, and at the minimum of
expense. Moreover, we would probably
be able to secure from these young
men who showed aptitude and a desire
to enter the service a large proportion
of our candidates for commissions from
civil life. They would come In per
manently, of course, only after the ex
amination required of all candidates
from civil life.
"Including the temporary second lieu
tenant's pay of 31700, it would cost
the Government about 32500 for each
of these young men for a year's serv
ice, but the Government would be get
ting officers' service out of them while
they were getting Instruction and ex
perience of Inestimable value. At '.he
end of the year the young men would
go back to civil life on the list of re
serve officers, trained, experienced,
mentally equipped and ready for duty
when needed. Furthermore, if he had
been ordinarily careful In his expendi
tures he should have saved nearly $1000
to start him In his chosen vocation in
civil life.
This year we tried the experiment
of assembling a number -of students
from the colleges of the country into
two camps, where military Instruction
was Imparted by lectures and by prac
tical field work. The results were
wholly admirable. The central Idea,
of course, was to regard these students
as potential volunteer officers. The en
thusiasm with which they undertook
the work and the rapidity with which
they learned Justified the experiment.
I think the plan of these college .stu- i
dents' camps Is excellent, and I look
to see It developed further.
To get back to the Regular Army.
We must always maintain a small and
highly efficient Regular Army, an
army sufficient for the demands or
peace, which are the garrisoning of
the foreign possessions; the Philippine
Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, the Pan
ama Canal Zone, Porto Rico and
Alaska, and the maintenance of a force
In the United States adequate for the
peace needs of the home country,
which Includes the garrisoning of ne
se-coast defenses and a mobile army
sufficiently large to meet any local de
mands which may be made upon It.
'It is this home army upon which w
must depend to Instruct and develop
our reserves. The militia will have to
handle its own Droblem in the develop
ment of reserves, but should prooeed
on lines similar to those In force in the
regular army, although the periods of
Instruction will necessarily be longer
on account of the limited time these
men have for training.
In other words, we want to Instruct
as many men as are needed with the
minimum of Interference with their
economic careers. We do not want a
large standing army, which means
militarism, but we do want a small,
highly-trained Army, so made use of
to create a reserve or men zutea
to be s-ood soldiers, but who are en
gaged In the peaceful pursuits of
everyday life until need for their serv
Ices arises "
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BHERE is a little room opening off
the main corridor of the Portland
Postofflce where, at almost any
hour of the day, you may ee several
persons waiting in line before a couple
of barred windows.
At these two windows. In the two
years since the postal savings system
was put into effect, $3,000,000 have
changed hands. Just past the grated
openings Is a filing cabinet in which
duplicates of certificates of deposit
show that over $800,000 Is now on de
posit at this office. A large business
to have grown up In two years, and
there appears to be no diminution of
thl xa of growth. Yet outside- the
16 or so thousand persons who have,
or have had, deposits. here, few people
know of the elaborate and Ingenious
system devised by the Government ex
perts to take care of this business. ,
A very effective system It is; a system
of checks and balances, like the con
stitutional theory of our Government.
But what interests the ordinary ob
server more is the relation between the
depositor and the bank. As soon as I
could I edged over to the window to
talk to one of the clerks. He was In
the midst of a conversation with one
of the depositors, a stout woman in
the hale 40s, who -appeared rather indignant.
'Well,- I lJae your nerve, young f el-
difference does it make to you what
my father's name was?"
"I'm sorry, madam," replied the clerk
patiently, "but the question is down on
the list and we've got to ask it It's
part of our identification system."
"Oh, I see," cried the fat woman,
smoothing her ruffled plumage, "I
didn't think of that."
The clerk asked a few more ques
tions, wrote the answers on a large
envelope, had the woman sign her
name on it and then asked: "How much
did you wish to deposit?"
"Thirty dollars," was the Teply.
He tore off a couple of blank forms,
dated them, put the woman's name and
account number on them - and then
low," said the, stout w-oman. ".WliaU-banded. Jtier a soupls t duplicate. to
sign. While she was signing them
he put her name and address on an
other envelope and noted the amount
and date of the deposit on the back.
He put the certificates in this and the
signed duplicates In bis own envelope.
"There is one $20 certificate and one
$10 certificate $30. Always bring your
envelope when you call, please," and
he tossed the money In the till.
"Do they often take exception to the
Identification questions?" I asked.
"Very seldom," said the postal em
ploys. "A homely woman sometimes
objects to telling her age. A pretty
one almost never does. I suppose they
know attractiveness doesn't depend
upon youth. We never have any trou
ble, with, patrons In. here, jra&s inj
some departments, like the carriers or
the general delivery, there will be a
regular little war sometimes soma
fellow will think he is abused and start
out to make trouble. They don't do
that around here. One reason Is that
a man that saves money must have a
certain amount of self-control. An
other Is that they are too well safe
guarded. The depositor can't lose
money here. Neither can the Govern
ment. The clerk is the only one that
can."
"Is there no way for the depositor
or anyone else to get ahead of the
game?" I asked.
"It's never been found. And the
only way a clerk can lose money Is
by giving out too much, say banding ,
someone a ten-dollar gold piece for a i It doesn't matter if It's only I centa
five, or paying Interest that Isn't due We don't dare send It In to the de
yet. That comes out of his own pocket. 1 partment unpaid, for they raise Cain
It's pretty near an airtight system." j about It every time."
We never cash a certificate unless
we are absolutely certain that the per
son cashing It Is the person to whom
It was made out, or their authorized
representative. The Identification is
easy, but certain. Walt a minute,
though, there comes very near being
one weak place In the system the In
terest. Lots of times persons cash
their certificates and don't ask for the
Interest. Perhaps there Is just one In
a bunch that bears interest. In a day
or two this Is detected and the clerk
has to deliver that money to the right
person and get a signed receipt for It.
An unkempt Italian, with a slouch
hat pulled over his yes, appeared at
the little window and said sometblng
in broken English that was unintelli
gible to me.
"Tou want to put In $400?" repeated
the clerk. "I'm sorry, but we can only
take $100 a month, $500 In all. I can
take $100 if this and you can bring
in another $100 the first of the month."
This appeared to satisfy the feHow
and the postal employe drew down a
couple of ' envelopes and showed the
.(Concluded oa Pace 1A.